Just This Once
by the-great-snape-debate
Summary: For just one night, Severus gets the closest thing he will ever have to having a proper father. For one night, Tobias isn't his abuser ... He's his dad.


Challenge request: "Snape never had a good memory of his father. Write a fanfic of a good memory."

"Boy come down 'ere!" Tobias yelled, his calloused hand banging hard on the side of the rabbit eared telly. The image came into focus a moment before it fuzzed out again, a dreadful static noise coming from the burned out speaker. "BOY!"

Severus felt numb as he came down the narrow, creaky staircase, his small hand on the bannister above him. "Yes da?" He asked as he sat down on the bottom of the staircase, as if trying to hide behind the railing.

"You got that school a yours tomorrow?" Tobias said, not looking at his young son as he smacked the telly once again, the sound making Severus jump.

"N-no da. It's Saturday." He said cautiously. "No school till Monday." Tobias finally looked over at him.

"I know what day of the bloody week it is. Get me mah coat." He said, Severus practically leaping from the stair. He tugged it down from the peg, the material hitting the floor with a loud clink of the keys in the pocket. "Get yers too. Yer comin' with me." Tobias said pulling his coat on and taking a cigarette package out of the pocket. He lit a cigarette with an old beat up zippo before placing it back in his pocket.

"Where are we goin?" Severus asked. Tobias gave him a dirty look and waved him off.

"Go and get ye fuckin jacket and ye'll find out." He said smacking Severus in the back of the head. Though it wasn't hard enough to hurt it was enough for Severus to get moving.

Severus grabbed his jacket off the peg and pulled it on, the material of his sleeves going far past his knuckles. Tobias shook his head.

"Your mother is bloody useless. Got all the magic in the world and she can't even fix ya up some fittin clothes." He said rolling up Severus sleeves so roughly it hurt Severus arm but he didn't say anything about it.

"Come on then." He said. He lead Severus out of the house and down the street. It was cold out, and Severus' jacket wasn't nearly warm enough. He could see his breath in the night air as he ran to keep up with his father.

He didn't dare ask where they were going again, but it didn't take long for him to find out.

"A bar?" Severus said. "But da ... I'm not allowed in a bar. I'm not ol' enough." Tobias said nothing as he stepped into the bar, Severus running in after him.

"Toby!" The men at the bar greeted his father happily. It was strange to see anyone address his father so friendly like. The only people he'd ever seen around his father were his mother, and his neighbours, all of who were terribly frightened of Tobias. "Thought ya was watching the game at home mate! Had your kid tonight dincha?"

"I got em, Gavin." Tobias said jabbing a thumb at Severus who was lingering in the door way. "Bloody telly dun wanna work. I miss anything good?"

"Peters scored a goal. One nothing for our boys!" Gavin said happily.

"Aye boy ... Come over here. Don't you go gettin into trouble." Severus meekly walked over to his dad and stood beside the barstool he was sitting on.

"I'm sure he won't be any trouble. Will ya kid? What's your name?" Gavin asked.

"S-Severus." He said hiding behind his dad's barstool.

"Well, S-Severus." Gavin said making the boys at the bar laugh. "It's a pleasure to meet ya. Moi name is Gavin. This is me brother Kevin, that's Pete and Frankie and over there is Gideon."

"Oiy! That's Ian to you mate!" Gideon said from across the bar.

"He's a bit sensitive." Gavin said laughing. "You watch the games with ya da at home?"

Severus glanced at his dad. He was never allowed to watch the games with his dad, he always said football was a man's sport, not for noisy children to interrupt. But looking at his dad he knew not to make him look bad.

"Ya ... Course." Severus said. "All the time." He said hoping it was the right answer.

"Really lucky you are. We don't have a telly at home. And the missus won't let me bring my boy to the bar." He looked up at the screen as everyone groaned, Germany had scored a goal.

"Come on boy." Tobias said. "Ya can't very well see down there." He picked Severus up and placed him down on the bar.

To be honest, Severus didn't like football. It was a boring muggle sport. But he was enjoying his time at the bar. He didn't know what was going on in the game but he boo'd at the right time, cheered when everyone else did, threw his hands up in celebration when England had won the World Cup. Some man named Hurst scored a hat trick. He didn't know what that meant, but it had to have been a good thing. He hadn't seen his dad so happy before.

Severus grinned as Gavin and Kevin clapped him on the back, Peter ruffling his hair.

"You brought us a good luck charm Toby!" Kevin said as Tobias hoisted Severus up onto his shoulders. It had shocked Severus at first but the smile returned to his face.

Tobias carried Severus on his shoulders, his friends walking with them as they taught Severus celebratory songs that shouldn't be taught to a six year old. It didn't matter to Severus ... He had a good time tonight. He was glad his dad took him out. Even if things went back to normal tomorrow, it didn't matter. England had won and Severus night was good. Tobias' friends didn't need to know that had England lost Severus night would have ended very differently ... They didn't need to know because England had won ... And though Severus still didn't care about the game ... He'd had fun for the first time in his short life.

((A/N – As always please review – I love em, keep em coming!))


End file.
